Firefighters in central Spain battle huge wildfire during heatwave

Firefighters in central Spain are battling a wildfire that has burned more than 32,000 hectares in one of the largest blazes in recent memory for the southern European country.

The fire in rural Guadalajara comes less than two weeks after a deadly blaze devastated a small expat community in southern Spain.

That small but extremely virulent blaze killed 13 people, including a number of Britons, in one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires.

On Wednesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the fire-ravaged area in Guadalajara, located less than two hours by car north-east of Madrid, where some 34 villages have been evacuated.

There are no reported serious injuries or deaths.

“Year after year we clearly see how climate change kills and destroys wealth in our communities,” Mr Sanchez said in the village of Tamajon.

“This isn’t politics. It is science, it’s about facts.”

He called for a national pact among all political parties to fight climate change.

Spain this year has already suffered 22 major forest fires, which is defined as a fire that burns more than 500 hectares. The fires have burned four times the amount of terrain compared with July last year, Mr Sanchez said.

The Socialist leader said more than 100,000 hectares had already been scorched through the first half of the year, matching the total yearly average for Spain over the last decade.

Spain’s minister for the ecological transition, Sara Aagesen, described the Guadalajara fire as “one of the largest in the recent history of our country” and the largest ever for the region of Castilla La Mancha.

Regional authorities said firefighters supported by water-dumping aircraft had so far protected the homes of all 40 villages in the burned area, 90% of which belongs to a national park.

Firefighters hope to have the nearly week-old fire under control by Friday, said Emiliano Garcia-Page, regional president of Castilla La Mancha.

Miguel Angel Moreno, mayor of the village of Zarzuela de Jadraque, said its 100 residents were evacuated on Friday, with 14 taking refuge at a Red Cross shelter.

Firefighters battled the blaze inside the village and saved all the local homes, even if two barns went up in flames, Mr Moreno said, adding that the firefighters should receive as much admiration as the football players who won the World Cup on Sunday.

“(The firefighters) had to run from one side of the village to the other putting out fires,” Mr Moreno told Spanish national television TVE. “Besides the heroes who won the World Cup, we have other heroes who remain nameless.”

Spain’s weather agency said a heatwave that began on Tuesday was expected to reach its peak between Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures pushing 40C in several inland areas and even crossing 42C in parts of Andalusia in southern Spain.

Guadalajara and large areas of Spain were under alert for high temperatures.

Like other countries, Spain is experiencing extreme heat, which is combining with wind and limited rainfall to create ideal conditions for small wildfires to grow unchecked.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as quickly as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing severe heatwaves across Europe.

Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness especially in south-eastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires.

In Italy, several fires burned across Sicily on Wednesday, prompting scattered evacuations.

For days, Italy’s Civil Protection agency has declared all of Sicily at the highest risk for wildfires.

Winds and temperatures near or above 40C have fuelled blazes from near Palermo on the northern coast to Catania in the east and now Agrigento in the west.

Greece was sweating under what was forecast to be the last of a four-day heatwave.

Temperatures were predicted to top 42C, while several regions in southern and central Greece, including the wider Athens area, were on the highest alert level for wildfire danger.

Cyprus, meanwhile, issued a warning for high temperatures expected to reach 43C.